A Few Drops of Hope: Award-Winning Short Stories by Tween Writers

By Nico Cordonier Gehring, Ha Jin Sung and Lucie Oh

Magical music comes to the aid of a young blind immigrant when bringing her adopted city back to life after a global pandemic. A heartbroken mother tells the beginning and the end of the life of her little girl. A boy searches for his best friend when she goes missing. These are just some of the unputdownabl

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lune Spark LLC
• Release date: Jan 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9781947960497

Book preview

A Few Drops of Hope

Award-Winning Short Stories by Tween Writers



Logo Description automatically generated

Lune Spark Books, NC

Copyright © 2022 by Lune Spark Books

All the characters, names, places, and incidents appearing in this work are the product of the authors’ imaginations. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, Lune Spark Books at the address below.

Publisher: Lune Spark LLC

PO Box 1443, Morrisville, NC, 27560, United States

www.lunespark.com

Young Writers’ Resources:www.lunespark.com/youngwriters

Email: [e-mail]

Phone: [phone]

Hardback ISBN 13: 978-1-947960-47-3

Paperback ISBN 13: 978-1-947960-48-0

eBook ISBN 13: 978-1-947960-49-7

1. Short stories 2. Anthology 3. Creative writing 4. Young writers

First edition

To the young writers who have the courage to tell their stories.

Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up.

~Jane Yolen

Introduction

This year we hit a significant milestone—the fifth year of the Lune Spark Young Writers’ Short Story Contest! We’re so proud of our young writers for pursuing their passion and their parents for their support.

We have also heard from many of our past contestants on a range of achievements, from winning writing awards to getting their novels published. They have frequently told us that this contest was the stepping stone in getting there. That’s the single most important thing that pumps up everyone at Lune Spark—seeing our efforts making a difference in helping young artists find their inner spark.

We’re also proud to share that we got a badge of achievement from Reedsy, which I am including below. We made it onto their Best Writing Contests List for 2021. The credit really goes to everyone: Team Lune Spark, the contestants, the parents, and the judges—these are pillars this contest stands tall on.

So if you know a young writer, please let them know about the contest by passing along our website:

lunespark.com/youngwriters

Just like in past years, the stories this year encompass a tremendous amount of creativity and imagination. I feel proud to introduce yet another excellent anthology of stories by talented young writers.

My special gratitude goes to the following people. Running the contest and publishing this book couldn’t have been possible without their help!

The participants of the 2021 Lune Spark Short Story Contest and their parents for their high degree of engagement, enthusiasm, and support.

The judges of the 2021 contest: Briana Chen, Jodie Reed, Osman Welela, Rebecca McNutt, and Vikas Khair. They helped us with the judging process last year as well—their continued commitment to this cause is highly commendable!

Lastly, the best gift to a writer is a review. So let your take on their stories reach them in the form of a review anywhere you like—on a book-related website, your blog, or on social media. Rest assured that they will be eagerly reading every single review, looking for encouragement and constructive criticism. Happy reading!

—Pawan Mishra, Apex, North Carolina

November 2021

Contents

Song Spark Recovery Magic

The Shimmers That Take Us Back

You

Timeless

The Jewel Net of Time

Una Niña Americana

The Evelyn Award

The Miraculous Journey of Elodie Sephtis

The Legend of Silvestria

Bleed

Accidents Happen

In the Shade of the Palm Trees

The Quest

A Mountain Climbing Trip to Mars

Seven

Remember Yesterday?

Diary of an Older Sister

Betrayal

The Trial of the Jaguar Boy

An Out of the World Adventure

Do What Thou Wilt

Remedium

Seventh Grade

Alleyman, All Mouse

The Diary of a Witness

About Lune Spark Books

Other Anthologies by Lune Spark

Song Spark Recovery Magic

Nico Roman Cordonier Gehring

Something important is missing… mused Song as she helped her mother carry their battered chairs and worn rugs up the cold concrete stairwells to their council flat. Since they first saw the grim halls of the housing estate, she felt an icy absence in her already shattered world. It was a whispered warning, spoken over and over in the background, too soft for conscious grasp, but ominous. It haunted her: their new building had no song!

Where they had lived in the West, before a terrible global coronavirus pandemic had ripped her grandmother away, also taking her mother’s low-paying janitorial job, life had been different.

Sightless since birth, Song relied on textures, tastes, scents, and especially sound—music—to make sense of her world. Although she had learned not to mention it to strangers, to Song, each building hummed with its community’s unique spirit, celebrating their shared ideas, dreams, and lives. Each neighborhood sang its own special tune, woven from the history and harmony of its people and place. In the West, she had breathed quiet music.

Her service dog, Mozart, a small husky granted to her family by a local charity, helped her navigate when her mother was away. Just by passing a home or building she could share a little glimmer of its inner life.

Here in the East, even as vaccines slowly reached each generation and the pandemic erratically wound down, things were strange. Her new building sounded heavy, chill, and empty, the long hallways echoing with dust and neglect, the inhabitants disconnected and alien. Not even the sad, tattered sparrows on the grimy windowsills were singing.

Song could not see the towering, imposing glass structures far above her, nor the flashing neon lights that attracted others to the city, even in days devastated by the disease, with its millions of losses, the fear, distrust, and economic collapse. She only felt the disconnect and suffered.

Song tried her best to settle into their flat. But the Eastern winter was oppressive. Her mother left early each morning to labor in the chemical sewers of a factory that had reopened, making personal protective equipment for hospitals. Song was left with Mozart, and they felt the hopelessness and grief of the cold, gritty city. Rancid scents of diesel oil spills wafted from the roads and from discarded rubbish rotting uncollected on the curbs. Slimy discarded masks, gloves, and other plastics clogged the drains, making Song and Mozart slip. Constant horns of traffic blared from the highways beside their grimy flat, melding with the persistent background wail of ambulances.

Song sat on the faded linoleum next to the open window in their tiny kitchen, taking shallow breaths of the polluted city air. She wondered how her world, so full of joyful tunes, had turned so silent. She wanted to change things, but she couldn’t imagine how.

Her one cheerful thought, which she held close to warm her like a glowing golden ember, was her special flute. Once her grandfather could visit, bringing the ancient instrument that he had reserved just for her, Song hoped the crystal notes would form and dance around her as they always did when she played in the West.

Finally, the day arrived! Masked and cautious, Song and her mother traveled through the cluttered dead streets of their pandemic-struck city to the train station. When Song’s grandfather stepped smiling from the carriage, his wrinkled arms outstretched, Song barely needed the pressure of her mother’s light hand on her back to fly toward him. His answering laughter, and the pure notes of greeting that she heard from the precious instrument he carried, made all the waiting worthwhile. On a bark of welcome from Mozart, as he too heard the notes leaking from the battered but beloved black case, a bit of her former confidence returned.

With her flute, Song’s grim life in the silent, cluttered city of the East improved. Sadness still caged her tiny soul, but her music surrounded her, clear and pure, the notes cascading through her days. Unfortunately, the only teacher available in the city was expensive. As she set out with Mozart for her first lesson, she had a spark. Rather than burden her family, she could contribute to the cost herself, by playing her flute!

Song’s first clandestine concert took place in the center of her new city, at the intersection of two major alleyways, next to an abandoned street market. Her trusted Mozart guided her through the crowds. Secretly she hoped that they all had been vaccinated because she felt people gathering, and some seemed rather close.

Song unpacked her instrument and started to play. The indigo notes of the ancient, slender silver instrument flowed like a crystal river through the gray, silent city streets, touching the lives of each person, and planting seeds of hope in the crushed hearts of the homes, buildings, and neighborhoods themselves. As Song shared her very soul, the city around her slowly stopped. Pedestrians, cars, and buses froze to hear the lovely music. The notes formed a warm waterfall of wonder and light. And as the people of the soundless, soulless, songless city learned to listen, many for the first time in their lives, they became inspired to build back better.

In the crowd, a boy on a skateboard with gleaming raven-wing hair and purple high-tops stopped, astonished, and then quickly pulled out his mobile. His light fingers sped across the keys, and an app glowed with indigo energy as Song’s music engraved electronically. After the performance, Song crumpled in exhaustion on the stone stairs beneath the arches of a stone doorway. Then Mozart barked in greeting. The boy approached, with awed eyes, and asked her permission to post her performance online. Scarcely recognizing herself, Song agreed.

The music went viral, traveling everywhere through the city, and transformation traveled with it. A pointless prison for the poor broke the chains of solitude and started rapping its rhythm out from the ground. A polluted petrol station and a greedy fast-food restaurant realized their destiny and lifted an upbeat, jazzy saxophone duet number. A rubbish tip heard her music, discarding its methane-laden haze and throbbing with deep, happy, decomposing bass notes. The cut-rate pawnshop